1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to wireless communication systems and more particularly to increased data rates in such systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Wireless communication systems are known to include a plurality of wireless communication devices that communicate over wireless communication channels, which are supported by wireless communication infrastructure equipment (e.g., base stations, access points, system controllers, wide area network interfaces, local area network interfaces, et cetera). Each wireless communication device, which may be a radio, cellular telephone, station coupled to a personal digital assistant, personal computer, laptop, et cetera, includes a radio transmitter and a radio receiver. The radio transmitter includes a baseband processor, one or more intermediate frequency stages, filters, and a power amplifier coupled to an antenna. The baseband processor encodes and/or modulates, in accordance with a wireless communication standard such as IEEE 802.11a, IEEE802.11b, Bluetooth, Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS), et cetera, to produce baseband signals. The one or more intermediate frequency stages mix the baseband signals with one or more local oscillations to produce a radio frequency signal. The filter filters the radio frequency signal to remove unwanted frequency components and the power amplifier amplifies the filtered radio frequency signal prior to transmission via the antenna.
A radio receiver is known to include a low noise amplifier, one or more intermediate frequency stages, filters and a receiver baseband processor. The low noise amplifier amplifies radio frequency (RF) signals received via an antenna and provides the amplified RF signals to the one or more intermediate frequency stages. The one or more intermediate frequency stages mixes the amplified RF signal with one or more local oscillations to produce a receive baseband signal. The receiver baseband processor, in accordance with a particular wireless communication standard, decodes and/or demodulates the baseband signals to recapture data therefrom.
One advantage of standardized wireless communications is that wireless communication devices can be manufactured by different manufacturers and still provide reliable service. However, a disadvantage of the standardized wireless communications is that channel usage, data rate, modulation schemes, etc. are dictated by the standard. Thus, a design choice is made to be standard compliant and operate within the parameters of the standard or operate at desired parameters and not be standard compliant. An issue with non-standard compliant operations is that if the frequency spectrum for the wireless communication is shared with a standard compliant communication system, interference will occur, resulting in degraded performance for both the standard compliant and non-compliant systems.
One approach to achieve data rates greater than standardized data rates for IEEE 802.11a is a Turbo mode developed by Atheros, as disclosed in an Atheros white paper, entitled Super G, Maximizing Wireless Performance, 3/2004. However, this method may create interference with standardized IEEE 802.11a communications.
Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus of achieving non-standard features while maintaining standard compatibility.